A Different Kind of Life
by Laundry Basket
Summary: Jill Hughes, tired of her small cubicle and asinine employees, moves out of the city and into Mineral Town. Armed with a temper, a healthy dose of sarcasm and practically no experience with farming, she must restore the old farm.


Mineral Town was a small, bustling town occupied by about 30 people, a relatively tight-knit community with it's fair share of gossip (mostly perpetuated by the older women of the community) and youthful romance. Some of the citizens liked to speculate that the Harvest Goddess herself had something to do with the fact that there were exactly five young men and five young women at the appropriate age for marriage living in the area, ensuring there would be plenty grandchildren for the older folk in the vicinity. They were also what a citygoer might call "behind the times"; cars and computers were foreign. The only car that had been used regularly in the town belonged to a farmer who was long dead. While the farmer had children and grandchildren who inherited his other possessions, none of them were interested in running a farm, so the livestock were sold and the farm fell into ruin.

Jill Hughes was a young woman who was wholly unsatisfied with the way her life was going. For one, she loathed her job - all she did was sit in a cubicle all day, staring at a computer, pretending to work. The pay wasn't that great, and the building was filled with snooty employees who were prettier than her and assholes who did nothing but ogle these girls. They did less in a week than she did in a day, which amazed Jill considering she only did about 10 minutes of actual work on a daily basis.

City life was also "the pits". With increasing pollution, an increasing population, and increasing annoyance at her coworkers and nosy landlady, her patience was wearing thin. For the last few weeks she had been scanning ads in the paper, looking for a way out.

And she finally found the solution to her problems in the form of a small ad in one of the local newspapers. It detailed a beautiful farm out in the country with a small cottage and an impressive stretch of land, situated next to a quaint little town. It was hard to believe nobody had taken the offer already. After all, it was perfect... it was just what she needed...

Two weeks later, Jill arrived in Mineral Town with her luggage and her pet dog, Rufus. Opting for a change from the pants and t-shirts she usually wore, she dressed in bright blue overalls for the occasion. She wasn't really sure what the proper attire for farmers was, but she had always seen farmers on TV wearing overalls, so she assumed overalls would work best. They brought back memories; she hadn't worn overalls since childhood...

She stepped onto the farm and brushed a few strands of blonde hair away from her face, her mouth twisting into a scowl as she saw the "beautiful" farm in all it's glory. The paint on the cottage was chipping, and small was an understatement - it seemed as if the place didn't even have a kitchen. Did it even have a bathroom? She winced at the sight of a wooden outhouse in the distance. _Do they really expect me to use that?_ She thought. The field was covered in weeds, rocks, and pieces of lumber. There were a few oversized boulders that looked as if it would be impossible to move them without assistance from a few grown men. _Just how long has this place been abandoned? No wonder nobody's moved in..._

"Damn it." She mumbled under her breath, walking up to a small rock and kicking it. It soared over a dozen weeds and landed on a tree stump. "Damn it!" She repeated, yelling this time, her frustration building. She had gotten so excited! It was the perfect opportunity to get away from the monotony and the stupidity... she had quit her job and gave her landlady the finger. And for what? Some stupid, run down farm that hadn't been touched in 5 years?

She broke into a run and tried to kick a larger rock, screaming a string of colorful obscenities as the rock proved far too heavy and shot pain through her leg as her foot collided with the hard stone, then fell backwards, a layer of dirt decorating the backs of her pant legs. Rufus barked a few times and started to growl at a nearby weed. Laughter from behind her only served to stoke the flames of her anger and she hurriedly got up off the ground, whirling around to send a death glare at the source of the laughter. A short, balding man in a red suit with a large mustache was laughing hysterically, face reddened, his glasses hanging on the edge of his freakishly large nose, and Jill wasn't about to let some carny get a few cheap laughs off of her. She strode towards him and gave him the meanest look she could muster, causing the man to promptly freeze. "Look here, you goddamn clown." yelled Jill, pointing at him and resisting the urge to throw a couple of punches. "Who's in charge of this town? I need to kick his ass."

The man looked fearful and began to stutter. "I... I... I'm the m-mayor, Miss. M-Mayor Thomas."

Jill looked murderous. "Why, you little..."

"W-wait! Stop!" Thomas begged, with Jill about to give him a black eye. "Stop! Please! Maybe we can work this out! I mean... the farm's just a f-f-fixer upper, Miss!"

"You call that a fixer-upper!" She roared, jabbing a thumb at the field, riddled with weeds, stones and stumps.

"It's not as hard as it looks! It's f-free! You don't have to pay anything!" Thomas was quivering with fear. Jill's glare was still laced with venom but she seemed to calm down at the word "free". She had expected rent, or something. It was one advantage, at least.

After a minute or so of thought, staring at the run-down farm, she sighed. What other choice did she have? "I'll take it." Thomas's face broke into a grin.

"Alright, you can start right away! Miss... uh..." He looked expectantly at her.

"Jill." She said, stuffing a hand into one of her numerous pockets, still scowling at the clownish little man. "Jill Hughes."

Jill spent the rest of the day getting acquainted with her new home. It wasn't too bad - it was livable, at least, but it would take a lot of work. There was a dog house for Rufus to stay in, and the barn was fairly large, though it looked like the chicken coop needed work done. One of the walls had a few sizable holes in it, and one of the holes was big enough for a chicken to fit through, so she'd have to get those holes repaired.

A man named Zack came by and told her how to use the shipping bins located around the farm. _Finally, a source of income that doesn't involve sitting in a cubicle for hours,_ she thought. Zack seemed nice - certainly less annoying than that Thomas fellow - though he seemed like a "more brawn than brains" type of guy. She idly wondered if there were any single men in the town around her age.

She had more complaints about the house. There was a TV, thankfully, though it only had four channels - weather, news, an educational channel and a variety channel. Everything was sort of crammed into the house, and every surface was covered in a thick layer of dust. A chest sat in the corner with a multitude of tools in it - a hammer, a hoe and a watering can, among other things. She was correct about the place lacking a kitchen, or a bathroom, and she wasn't sure how exactly she was going to get something to eat. _Maybe there's a McDonalds around here or something._ She pulled her purse out of her suitcase and set it down, digging in one of the compartments for her wallet. Even with a relatively small amount of luggage, she had difficulty unpacking everything. She had to leave her clothes in her suitcase, for lack of anywhere else to put them, and she shoved her bright blue diary on the table next to the bed.

She sighed heavily and sat on the bed, untying her shoes and casting them aside. She was utterly exhausted from the two-hour ride from her city to Mineral Town, along with checking out the farm, and the man driving the taxi taking her there was one of the more obnoxious people she had met recently. Her eyes, a dull blue, followed a small spider as it made it's way across the ceiling, and she laid down on the bed, wincing at how lumpy the pillow was. She pulled the thin bedsheets over her body and slowly closed her eyes. She could feel exhaustion tugging at the edges of her mind, laboring every limb, making it hard to think. _I'll think tomorrow._ thought Jill sleepily, fingers curling into the dusty bedsheet as she fell into uneasy sleep.


End file.
